A Case of Male Breast Cancer and a Literature Review

Main Article Content

Jesús Francisco Balderrama Conde
Karla Verónica Peña Quintero
Luis Fernando Pacheco Córdova
Christian Daniel Luna Rodriguez

Abstract

Background: Breast cancer in men, similar to that in women, originates in the mammary gland epithelium (ducts), and although less common than in women, its incidence has increased in recent decades, accompanied by significant advances in understanding the disease as a distinct entity. It shares important similarities with its female counterpart, with significant progress in diagnosis and treatment.


Case presentation: In this report, we describe the clinical and imagenological characteristics of a 64-year-old man with metastatic adenocarcinoma to the skin. The patient presented with an ulcerative lesion on the right hemithorax, along the mid-clavicular line and anterior axillary line at the fifth intercostal space. The lesion had a soft, necrotic appearance, was prone to bleeding, and was referred by the patient as "resulting from trauma" a year ago, with progressive expansion and deepening, despite antibiotic use and cleansing of the wound. It invaded the surrounding skin, which appeared desquamated, erythematous with neovascularization, friable to the touch prone to bleeding with difficulty to achieve hemostasis, and multiple brownish nodular satellite lesions, with no other associated symptoms. A thoracic CT scan performed in the emergency department revealed a bilateral pleural effusion, predominantly on the right side, occupying 50% of the right lung space, along with an osteolytic lesion at the level of the manubrium of the sternum. A follow-up thoracic CT scan showed a pleural effusion occupying 80% of the right lung space, with a minor pneumothorax. The placement of an endopleural chest tube on the right side resulted in the extraction of 1800 ml of serosanguineous fluid, and pleural fluid culture did not reveal microorganisms or tumor cells, making the diagnosis of pulmonary adenocarcinoma less likely. A biopsy of the surrounding tissue yielded an invasive, poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma. Immunohistochemical staining was positive for estrogen and progesterone receptors, CK19, and negative for CK7, CK20, leading to the primary diagnosis of breast cancer based on clinical presentation and lesion location.


Conclusions: Breast cancer in men, while sharing similarities with its female counterpart, presents its own unique characteristics. The identification of these factors and education about the significance of this condition, along with the discovery of specific biomarkers and targeted therapies, have the potential to significantly improve the prognosis of male patients in the future.

Article Details

How to Cite
Jesús Francisco Balderrama Conde, Karla Verónica Peña Quintero, Luis Fernando Pacheco Córdova, & Christian Daniel Luna Rodriguez. (2023). A Case of Male Breast Cancer and a Literature Review. International Journal of Medical Science and Clinical Research Studies, 3(11), 2793–2798. https://doi.org/10.47191/ijmscrs/v3-i11-46
Section
Articles

References

I. Ayca Gucalp et al.Male breast cancer: a disease distinct from female breast cancer. 2019. DOI:10.1007/s10549-018-4921-9

II. Yong Alison Wang et al.. Germline breast cancer susceptibility gene mutations and breast cancer outcomes. 2018. DOI: 10.1186/s12885-018-4229-5.

III. K J Ruddy, et al. Male breast cancer: risk factors, biology, diagnosis, treatment, and survivorship. 2013. DOI: 10.1093/annonc/mdt025

IV. Meriem Elbachiri et al. Breast cancer in men: about 40 cases and literature review. 2017.

DOI: 10.11604/pamj.2017.28.287.13527.

V. Yan Xue et al. Clinical research advancement on male breast cancer. 2007.

VI. Suleiman Alfred Massarweh et al. Special considerations in the evaluation and management of breast cancer in men. 2016.

DOI: 10.1016/j.currproblcancer.2016.09.003

VII. Qi Wu et al. Poorer breast cancer survival outcomes in males than females might be attributable to tumor subtype. 2016. DOI: 10.18632/oncotarget.12052.

VIII. Joshua Weir et al. Clinicopathologic Features and Radiation Therapy Utilization in Patients with Male Breast Cancer: A National Cancer Database Study. 2018. DOI: 10.1177/1178223418770687

IX. Alessandro Caldarone et al. Raman analysis of microcalcifications in male breast cancer. 2021. DOI: 10.1016/j.saa.2021.120185.

X. Xiaoxian Li et al. Hormone Receptor-Positive Breast Cancer Has a Worse Prognosis in Male Than in Female Patients. 2017.

DOI: 10.1016/j.clbc.2017.03.005.

XI. Ian S Fentiman. Male breast cancer is not congruent with the female disease. 2016. DOI: 10.1016/j.critrevonc.2016.02.017.

XII. Holm Eggemann et al. Survival benefit of tamoxifen and aromatase inhibitor in male and female breast cancer. 2018. DOI: 10.1007/s00432-017-2539-7.

XIII. Ian S Fentiman. The biology of male breast cancer. 2018. DOI: 10.1016/j.breast.2018.01.001.

XIV. Julieta Leone et al. Overall Survival of Men and Women With Breast Cancer According to Tumor Subtype: A Population-based Study. 2019. DOI: 10.1097/COC.0000000000000497

XV. San-Gang Wu et al. Men and women show similar survival outcome in stage IV breast cancer. 2017. DOI: 10.1016/j.breast.2017.05.012.

XVI. Miguel Henriques Abreu et al. Male breast cancer: Looking for better prognostic subgroups. 2016. DOI: 10.1016/j.breast.2015.12.001.

XVII. Hans-Ulrich Schildhaus et al. Therapeutic strategies in male breast cancer: clinical implications of chromosome 17 gene alterations and molecular subtypes. 2013. DOI: 10.1016/j.breast.2013.08.008.

XVIII. Zhao Wenhui et al. Androgen receptor expression in male breast cancer predicts inferior outcome and poor response to tamoxifen treatment. 2014. DOI: 10.1530/EJE-14-0278.

XIX. Cecilia Nilsson et al. Molecular subtyping of male breast cancer using alternative definitions and its prognostic impact. 2013.

DOI: 10.3109/0284186X.2012.711952.

XX. Alfonso Sanchez-Muñoz et al. Male breast cancer: immunohistochemical subtypes and clinical outcome characterization. 2012.

DOI: 10.1159/000341537.

XXI. Jessica Wang-Rodriguez et al. Male breast carcinoma: correlation of ER, PR, Ki-67, Her2-Neu, and p53 with treatment and survival, a study of 65 cases. 2002.

DOI: 10.1097/01.MP.0000022251.61944.1D

XXII. Shannon Fogh et al. Use of tamoxifen with postsurgical irradiation may improve survival in estrogen and progesterone receptor-positive male breast cancer. 2011. DOI: 10.3816/CBC.2011.n.007

XXIII. Alfonso Sanchez-Muñoz et al. Male breast cancer: correlation between immunohistochemical subtyping and PAM50 intrinsic subtypes, and the subsequent clinical outcomes. 2018. DOI: 10.1038/modpathol.2017.129

XXIV. Bo Sun et al. The prognostic value of clinical and pathologic features in nonmetastatic operable male breast cancer. 2016. DOI: 10.4103/1008-682X.154992.

XXV. A-S Oger et al. Male breast cancer: prognostic factors, diagnosis and treatment: a multi-institutional survey of 95 cases. 2015. DOI: 10.1016/j.gyobfe.2015.02.010.

XXVI. Lene Gaarsmand Christensen et al. Subtyping of male breast cancer by PAM50 and immunohistochemistry: a pilot study of a consecutive Danish cohort. 2020.

DOI: 10.1111/apm.13068

XXVII. Jose P Leone et al. Survival in male breast cancer over the past 3 decades. 2023. DOI: 10.1093/jnci/djac241.

XXVIII. Jose Pablo Leone et al. Efficacy of neoadjuvant chemotherapy in male breast cancer compared with female breast cancer. 2022.

DOI: 10.1002/cncr.34448.

XXIX. Braxton J McFarland et al. Male breast cancer: Report of two cases with bloody nipple discharge. 2023. DOI: 10.1016/j.radcr.2023.07.001.

XXX. Xiaofeng Dai et al. Breast Cancer Cell Line Classification and Its Relevance with Breast Tumor Subtyping. 2017. DOI: 10.7150/jca.18457.

XXXI. Xiaofeng Dai et al. Breast cancer intrinsic subtype classification, clinical use and future trends. 2015.

XXXII. Mehdi Hamaneh et al. A Simple Method for Robust and Accurate Intrinsic Subtyping of Breast Cancer. 2023. DOI: 10.1177/11769351231159893.

XXXIII. Caroline A Lamb et al. Hormone receptors in breast cancer: more than estrogen receptors. 2019.

Most read articles by the same author(s)